Gun Buster (also known as Operation: Gunbuster in overseas releases) is a 1992 arcade Rail Shooter / FPS hybrid developed by Taito, a game which is considerably revolutionary at it's time due to containing various features that will later become the norm of First-Person Shooters, including circular-strafing, multiplayer deathmatches and split-screen views on two-player mode.
Story-wise, Gun Buster is as straightforward as most arcade releases back in the 90s. Set in 2169 in the high-tech metropolis called Aglia City, the player(s) are members of the elite Gunbusters - a non-government mercenary unit hired for tasks too difficult for the police or military to handle. Crime is rampant with cyborg villains and their robots everywhere, and the Gunbusters' help is required in thirteen action-packed levels.Contains graphic similarities to the earlier Taito shooter, Space Gun, due to recycling certain visual assets and running on the Taito SZ System.
Unrelated to the anime with giant robots and insects.
Time to go Cyborg-Hunting...
- Animal Mecha:
- The boss of the cruiser stage is backed up by two massive robotic snakes who pops in and out the water to attack.
- One stage sees you battling a huge, red unnamed scorpion mecha boss.
- Attack Drone: You'll battle plenty of small, hovering drones with twin turrets attached to their sides and fronts.
- Battle in the Rain: The stage in an industrial zone have you fighting hostile enemy forces in the middle of heavy rain, and visibility is as poor as expected.
- Brain Monster: The Final Boss inexplicably turns out to be a huge brain inside a cylindrical vat, and that turns out to be the mastermind of all the cyborgs. It's a Stationary Boss where you run circles around it while avoiding projectiles and shooting back.
- Cyborg: All the bosses are human-machine hybrids with all sorts of weaponry and equipment built into their bodies.
- Dual Boss: The industrial zone have you battling two rogue Busters from your unit, both at the same time.
- Elevator Action Sequence: The entirety of the first stage, where you're in an elevator and the Flying Cyborg is armound you attacking from outside.
- Enemy-Detecting Radar: As bosses tends to fly off-screen every now and then, the game will throw a glowing purple triangle as an indicator telling you where the boss is.
- Flash of Pain: Displayed on all boss enemies, when you managed to land a hit on them.
- Hover Bike: The cyborg henchwoman boss battles you while riding one of these.
- Jet Pack: Most of the humanoid cyborg bosses are equipped with one, allowing them to hover all over the place while taking potshots at you.
- Mecha-Mooks: All the lower-level enemies that backs up the bosses are robotic.
- Route Boss: Halfway into the game, you're given a choice of branching levels and facing a different eventual boss, for instance either the Cyborg henchwoman or the "Insector".
- SkeleBot 9000: The third boss, an "Incomplete Cyborg", who looks like a brown version of the T-800. He appears to be one of the two bosses besides "Insector" who isn't explicitly human.
- Spider Tank: "Insector", one of the bosses, is a rampaging spider mecha. And it has smaller spider-mechs as backup.
- Timed Mission: The Gunbusters are given 150 seconds to complete each stage, and running out of time uses up a Continue.
- Winged Humanoid: The first boss is a cyborg with mechanical wings built in an exo-suit (which the game helpfully names, "flying cyborg"). He'll fly circles around you as you're in a glass elevator going up.
